Five years later...

Iraq is still broken and we've got an impressive legacy of war-crimes, crimes-against-humanity, three-trillion dollars worth of debt and opportunity cost and no end in sight. To go with it, we've got the fourth estate showing themselves to be the worst sort of Pravda-like sycophants and cheerleaders who have, for years, been uncritically repeating whatever they're told:

Iraq's new army is "developing steadily," with "strong Iraqi leaders out front," the chief U.S. trainer said.

That was three-plus years ago, and the trainer was David H. Petraeus, now the top American commander in Iraq. Some of those Iraqi officials at the time were busy embezzling more than $1 billion allotted for the new army's weapons, according to investigators.

And the Iraqi army is STILL broken. The recent uprising around Basra was a stalemate until it was put down with American support:

The U.S. military confirmed on Sunday that its special units have joined Iraqi government troops in a crackdown against fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to win control of the southern oil city of Basra.

Let the Republicans spin it as they will, peace in Iraq depends on Sadr. Sadr decides on a ceasefire, and suddenly casualties drop significantly (last three red bars). Sadr calls off his voluntary cease-fire because he wants to add Basra to his sphere of influence and, boom, the Iraqis have 120 dead and 450 wounded in a matter of hours and we're reduced to dropping bombs and hoping like hell the Iraqi Army can take the ground because we don't have the troops to pacify Basra, despite the surge.

Meanwhile, the moron in the Whitehouse tells us the fighting in Basra is a sign the surge worked. He doesn't tell you that the fighting has spread from Basra to Sadr City and other places. He doesn't tell you that the Iraqi Army is useless and couldn't make gains in any of the insurgent areas until US troops got involved.

Nope, it's just the usual neocon double-speak: lack-of-casualties mean the surge is working (even if it's an external cause, like Sadr) and casualties mean the surge is working... See, no matter what happens means we're winning. Even if, five years later, and three-years later, and one-year later, virtually everything said about Iraq, by the neocons and the war cheerleaders, has been shown to be wrong or a lie.

And our gutless press? The "Fourth Estate?" Are they going to point this out? Hell no, those gutless curs are sniffing McCain's sack... Because, 40-years-ago, he was a POW. And they like him. Even though it's pretty clear, he's gone completely off the deep end in his desire to be President and has abandoned every principle for which he once stood.